50 years ago, the Soviet Union and China, the two largest communist powers, were on the brink of war. The formal reason for the conflict was the dispute over the ownership of Damansky Island on the Ussuri River.
Sino-Soviet relations began to deteriorate under Khrushchev. Mao Zedong tried to position himself as the leader of the world communist movement, and since his economic ventures ended in failures, he had to look for "internal enemies" and recoup in the foreign policy arena.
The “Great Helmsman” relied on border conflicts, which could be quickly curtailed, and in case of at least a “draw” result, could be presented as “victories”.
Only in the face
In Central Asia, on the border of the USSR and China, clashes with killed and wounded were recorded since 1962. But Beijing did not particularly advertise them, since then it would have to explain that most of the clashes occurred due to the attempts of representatives of the Muslim peoples of China to go to the USSR. The occasion with Damansky looked more beautiful in propaganda terms. An island up to 1800 long and up to 700 meters wide, without a permanent population, but with several stone buildings, would belong to China if the border was drawn based on the rules accepted in world practice - along the middle bed of the Ussuri River. However, treaties in force since tsarist times fixed the border along the Chinese coast.
It was quite possible to settle the issue through negotiations, but during the period of "great friendship" they somehow did not bother to do this.
On the Soviet side, the disputed area was guarded by the Nizhne-Mikhailovskaya and Kulebyakiny Sopki outposts under the command of senior lieutenants Ivan Strelnikov and Vitaly Bubenin.
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In 1968, after another flood due to the movement of the Ussuri channel, Damansky "approached" the Chinese coast. Under the pretext of economic activity (with fishing and hayfields), the Chinese tried to behave on the island as in their own territory. Soviet border guards detained them and expelled them as violators.
The situation escalated in January 1969, when the Chinese began to blame on the ice on Damansky in droves. It is believed that this was an impulse of local residents, but the majority of the "local residents" were Red Guards. The taller Soviet border guards, even numerically inferior to the enemy, kicked them out. Then the Red Guards began to be replaced by special units dressed in civilian clothes. The hand-to-hand fights became fiercer, but no firearms were used.
Junior Sergeant Yuri Babansky recalled that he first arrived at the “cheerful” outpost “Nizhne-Mikhailovskaya”, when the entire personnel fought on the ice with the Chinese: “Our guys were both taller and healthier. But the Chinese are not bastard either - they are dexterous, evasive; do not climb on the fist, in every possible way they try to dodge our blows. While everyone was thrashed, an hour and a half passed. But without firing a shot. Only in the face."
The biggest fight between the border guards of "Kulebyakin Sopki" and violators took place on January 4, 1969 on the island of Kirkinsky. Taking into account the arriving reinforcements, Bubenin had about 300 people, from the Chinese side - at least twice as many, and they were well versed in the technique of hand-to-hand combat. Half an hour later, the outpost commander realized that success was leaning towards the enemy: “Having run up to the armored personnel carrier, I ordered the mechanic to cut through the crowd. "There are people there," the driver looked at me. "Don't look - move the levers, and that's it." Jumping onto the armor, I closed the viewing slots for the humanist and began to command: "right", "left" … When we turned around, I saw that four Chinese were lying in the snow. The rest, without waiting to continue, rushed to the other side. A magnificent funeral took place the next day. Their coffins were gorgeous - as I remember now."
Come to our souls …
The Chinese intended retaliatory strike was approved by the General Staff on February 14 as Operation Retribution. On the night of March 1–2, about 300 Chinese servicemen in camouflage coats secretly made their way to the island and disguised themselves in single trenches.
The Chinese side describes further events in the style that a company of Soviet border guards opened fire on the Chinese "patrol" for no reason, killing and wounding 6 people. "In self-defense, the Chinese were forced to counterattack."
Since it is very difficult to imagine a "patrol" that, having lost 6 people, counterattacks a company, let us dwell on the Soviet interpretation. According to her, a group of 32 border guards led by Strelnikov fell into a well-planned ambush.
As a "live bait" the Chinese used a detachment of about 30 people, which demonstratively appeared in Damansky. Strelnikov himself with "special officer" Buinevich, 4 fighters and photographer Petrov (who was supposed to record the fact of violation) went to the Chinese from the front. Behind at a distance of about 300 meters were another 12 fighters led by Babansky. The third group of 13 people under the command of Sergeant Rabovich entered from the flank.
At about 10:45 am, Strelnikov approached the Chinese with a demand to leave Soviet territory. One of the intruders raised his hand, the front row parted, and the second row opened fire from machine guns. This moment was recorded on film by Petrov.
A few minutes later, Strelnikov's group was killed. Then Rabovich's group also died. Babansky expressed his conviction that the Chinese were originally going to exterminate all border guards: “And then it was possible to sculpt any kind of 'facts' from this incident. Filming our guys from any angle, proving that they are on Chinese territory (they could be dragged anywhere), that they are invaders and the like."
The Chinese gouged out their eyes. Corporal Akulov, captured in an unconscious state, was tortured, and later his disfigured body was thrown from a helicopter.
But then, on March 2, Babansky's group could not be destroyed, and she continued to fight, holding out until the arrival of help and managing to pull out the bodies of her dead comrades.
Bubenin arrived from "Kulebyakiny Sopki" in an armored personnel carrier. Subsequently, Yuri Babansky recalled: “After 20 minutes of the battle, eight out of 12 guys remained alive, and after another 15 - five. Of course, it was still possible to retreat, return to the outpost, wait for reinforcements from the detachment. But we were seized with such fierce anger at these bastards that in those minutes we wanted only one thing - to put as many of them as possible. For the guys, for myself, for this one inch nobody needs, but still our land"
Realizing that the island was literally packed with the enemy, Bubenin bypassed the enemy from the rear. “In front of the car, the stunned Chinese got up from under the snow one by one. Only then did we realize how many of them came to our hearts … For more than two hours of battle, we circled around their positions, crushing and shooting. When after the next circle we got to the other side, it turned out that four of the entire outpost remained on their feet."
At about 13:20, more serious forces arrived at the scene under the command of the head of the 57th border detachment, Colonel Demokrat Leonov. By evening, the island was recaptured.
"Thin" oriental game
The next day, crowds of Red Guards raged around the Soviet embassy in Beijing, and on the 7th, better-mannered Soviet picketers pelted the Chinese embassy in Moscow with bottles of ink.
However, the Soviet leadership made no serious attempts to strengthen the border. And on March 14-15, the second battle for Damansky broke out, in which Colonel Leonov was killed by a sniper's bullet. Junior Sergeant Vladimir Orekhov, who destroyed the enemy machine-gun crew, but also died in this battle, showed special heroism. The Chinese again occupied the island, capturing the then secret T-62 tank.
And then the commander of the Far Eastern Military District, Lieutenant General Oleg Losik, decided to "cut in full", using another secret weapon - multiple launch rocket systems BM-21 "Grad". The island and the adjacent part of the Chinese coast were thrashed up and down, after which Damansky was occupied by the soldiers of the 199th motorized rifle regiment and border guards.
However, then the island was left and after the meeting on September 11 between the Soviet Prime Minister Kosygin and the Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Zhou Enlai de facto ceded to China. Legally, this concession was fixed in the 1991 agreement.
The sides showed each other "muscles", but allowed the enemy to "save face". And the island itself was not really needed, but 31 Soviet soldiers gave their lives for it.
Dmitry MITYURIN